Cases Coming Down, Anti-Epidemic Kits Arriving

Lam presenting the anti-epidemic kits at the press conference

I'm hearing from many friends and colleagues about their experiences of contracting Covid-19 and many have no idea where they got it from.

Some said they had stayed home most of the time, only going out for groceries and other supplies. As all of them are vaccinated (Sinovac or BioNTech), many reported the sore throat was the worst part of having Covid, as some didn't even have a fever, but flu-like symptoms such as aches and pains. 

It took on average about eight days or so before they became negative, but the whole experience especially in the beginning left them exhausted and they had to rest a lot. 

People putting together anti-epidemic kits

One says since her recovery about three weeks ago, she feels like her lung capacity is not like before, while another reported losing his sense of smell and taste and it has taken a few weeks for it to return; that really worried him as he enjoys not only his food but wine too.

All these people have experienced Covid in the last few weeks and it is only now that the Hong Kong government has announced that it will distribute anti-epidemic packs to every household starting from next month and hopes to complete the deliveries within a week.

Each pack contains 20 rapid antigen tests, 20 KN95 masks, and Chinese medicine from across the border.

"Things inside are mainly resources the central government gave Hong Kong in support, to show their motherland's care and support for Hong Kong compatriots," acting home affairs minister Jack Chan Jick-chi told a press conference.

He said the packs will be handed out through the Housing Authority, building management firms, the Heung Yee Kuk and volunteer groups.

And if anyone doesn't get a pack, they can get one from collection points that will be set up later, Chan added.

Where is Hong Kong's Lion Rock spirit? 

While it's nice to know the central government cares for Hong Kong residents, how come we are only getting these supplies now when at least half the population has already been infected with Covid-19?

This would have been helpful at least three weeks ago when the number of cases were rising exponentially and items like rapid antigen kits were hard to find or very expensive. Now they can be bought at around HK$30 (US$3.83) for one test. 

But yes, we should be grateful, like Hong Kong government and health officials who reiterate their thanks over and over again to Beijing for all the assistance.

Whatever happened to the Lion Rock spirit and Hongkongers self-subsisting?

Probably not part of the "one country, two systems" mandate...

Today there were 10,401 infection cases -- the lowest drop in a month, while the number of deaths recorded in the past 24 hours was 162, and 30 backlogged.

Hong Kong to Continue the Same Path

Lau again picked a neutral fortune for Hong Kong today

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the prophecy for Hong Kong is drawn through fortune sticks at Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin.

Early this morning, Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung got on his knees and shook a bamboo container filled with fortune sticks at an angle until one fell out.

It was number 38, considered a neutral fortune. By the way the two previous times he has picked neutral fortune sticks -- perhaps it's time to give the job to someone else? 

Lau got number 45 last year and number 92 in 2020.

Warning for Lam who may run for CE again

In any event the fortune read: "Men up above seek the fruit of truth. I head to the low ground to pick ginger and Chinese mustard.

"An altar may well be a kitchen. Act not as a hero to teach hunting," it added. The omen came with a brief explanation telling the city to "stick to the old ways on everything.

Everything?

If anything the city needs to innovate if it wants to survive...

Lau interpreted the fortune as continuing on the same path in battling the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

More groans can be heard all over Hong Kong.

"My understanding is that as the pandemic rages on, everyone should keep up their work. One should not expect the city would be able to end it in one go. We step out of difficulties one step at a time."

Meanwhile fortune-teller Chan Tin-yan said the message was also directed at Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who has yet to disclose if she will run again for the top post or not.

Che Kung quashed uprisings and plagues

"It said one should not act like a hero. It was telling the chief executive not to act like a hero," Chan said, adding the prophecy also suggested that any other entrants into the March leadership race should be more experienced than Lam "so that the economic and pandemic situations in Hong Kong will stabilise."

Interesting to note that Che Kung Temple was built over 300 years ago and named after a Song dynasty commander who was known for quashing not only rebellions, but also plagues...

Warning for HK Govt in Year of the Ox

Lau shows the prophecy he picked out with the fortune stick

 

The Year of the Ox has a cautious warning for Hong Kong authorities.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the ritual fortune stick is chosen at Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin, and this year the interpretation is for the government to be more decisive.

Kenneth Lau Ip-keung, who chairs the powerful rural body, the Heung Yee Kuk, picked a "neutral" fortune stick, though he said it should serve as an alarm call for officials, referring to the year-long coronavirus pandemic.

Che Kung Temple is in Sha Tin

"Hong Kong is facing a big problem. The people suffer pain. It's hard to do business now and many people are left jobless. Every step of the government is important, particularly at this stage," said Lau, who is also a pro-Beijing lawmaker.

"If it is not decisive and moves a wrong step, then the problem will be big. The fire will grow bigger. So the prophecy asks the government to implement its policies in a decisive, precise and timely manner, otherwise the problem will be big."

The fortune stick is one of 96 in a bamboo cylinder, each stick is numbered and refers to an omen, with 35 good ones, 17 bad, and 44 neutral. To pick the fortune stick, you have to shake the bamboo cylinder at an angle until one stick falls out. If two or more fall out at the same time, then put the sticks back in and shake it again.

Each omen is written as a poem, and usually people ask a fortune teller to help them interpret what it means. Lau's stick was number 45. It roughly translates as:

"One must discuss with others before taking any action. Matters of the world are fraught and in vain.

Shake the bamboo container until a stick falls out

"The wood that piled up in one's storage is not burnt for nothing. The knowledge knows before a fire burns."

It goes on to say:

"Everything is not ideal, but the self should have peace and the family has some luck. Those who seek money cannot yield a great outcome."

If one looks at how the Hong Kong government has handled the pandemic, the omen seems to describe it well, as the authorities have done several U-turns on many policies in battling the virus, including the latest decision on allowing the Lunar New Year flower markets to open, when originally it said they would be cancelled.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has also been criticized for relying on a small circle of advisors instead of consulting more broadly. Perhaps one remembers the time when the government stopped allowing all meals in restaurants and had to reverse the decision in 48 hours after seeing people eating takeaway lunches in the rain?

The government u-turned on the flower market

Lau said: "The pandemic is just the same as fire. If it is not put off in a timely manner, it will spread so fast."

As the number of new infections was 12 today, but no closer to Lam's goal of zero, Lau said the government needed to do a better job in tackling imported cases and improving contact tracing.

When asked by reporters whether the prophecy suggested the Beijing-imposed national security law could not address the city's problems, Lau said: "The administration could not walk its talk on many occasions. I believe when making policies, the government should make them go forward, aside from thinking about them carefully."

Sounds ominous.

He gave the example of Hong Kong's housing and land shortages, saying it took two decades to develop an area.

Lester Shum was one of 50 arrested last month

Reporters also asked Lau whether Hong Kong authorities should refrain from prosecuting opposition figures, give that one interpretation of the prophecy suggested the importance of harmony.

"Politically, striving for harmony is always the best. People's grievances should be addressed. It can't always use tough measures. That can't solve the matter. Every society needs harmony and unity to go forward," he said.

Wonder if he meant to send that message to Beijing as well, after how it dealt with the social unrest in 2019 followed by over 10,000 arrests of protesters, and last month's arrest of 50 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists for subversion in an alleged plot to "overthrow" the government...

HK's Short T8 and Lau Wong-fat

Tropical cyclone Roke came and went through Hong Kong today

Yesterday was so hot and humid, it was a sign a typhoon may be coming. Late last night it was T1 and I didn't think much of it.

But this morning it was already T3 and I got a text message from the Hong Kong Observatory, saying it would be T8 by 9.20am with Roke making landfall at Sai Kung East Country Park at 10am.

The T8 signal didn't feel serious this time around

That was such a surprise -- I didn't see that coming at all. So I stayed at home all morning and afternoon, and by 3.10pm the signal was lowered to T3.

I decided to go for a swim and the outdoor pool at Kennedy Town wasn't open, but the indoor ones were. It wasn't packed, but I had to weave around people in the smaller pool.

There was no rain at all, a bit windy outside and I finished the rest of my shopping and came home.

But by 7.30pm it was pouring rain when I went out for a late dinner in Central. Luckily I brought my big umbrella with me, but I should have worn boots. However within 10 minutes in the MTR, the rain had subsided in Central.

After dinner at 10.30pm it was pouring again in Central -- even harder than before. There was no choice but to get wet even under an umbrella. And then back in Kennedy town there was very light rain even though there is amber rainstorm warning. So bizarre!

Heung Kee Kuk strongman Lau Wong-fat has died

The next two days are expected to be unsettled followed by really hot sunny days Friday may see showers and then sunshine again on the weekend. Or that could all change tomorrow.

In other news, former Heung Yee Kuk leader Lau Wong-fat has passed away at the age of 80. He has been ill for a while.

For 35 years he represented the indigenous residents of the New Territories, and became known for his fight to include an article in the Basic Law to ensure that indigenous interests were still protected after 1997.

This includes the small three-storey houses they build and allows every male child to do the same, while the rest of us are crammed into shoeboxes in the sky everywhere else.

A few government officials previously dared to stare down Lau and his gang, but retreated with their tails between their legs. Are they really that threatening? Apparently so...

However, Lau's son, Kenneth Lau Ip-keung has taken over as leader, though he has yet to bare his teeth like his father.

May be now the government can really start pushing the housing agenda forward to make it more equitable for everyone...

Cracks in Heung Yee Kuk?

Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau will be sworn in as a lawmaker...

Are we seeing weakness in the notorious rural force known as Heung Yee Kuk?

Its chairman, Kenneth Lau Ip-leung was elected uncontested last month in the Legislative Council elections, and he will take the oath of office on Wednesday.

It was suggested in their internal meeting that 10,000 rural villagers show up to Legco to demonstrate their support for Lau, but now that has drastically been scaled back to a few hundred at most.

While Li Yiu-ban, a kuk ex-officio executive councillor who is helping to organize the rally, says it's better to have less people at Tamar because it "may cause inconvenience to others", others say Lau isn't taking a strong enough stance on rural issues like his father, Lau Wong-fat, who stepped down for health reasons after running the kuk for 35 years.

... and so will Eddie Chu (left) who exposed the kuk's violations

The rally was also meant to protest against incoming legislator Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, who has single handedly exposed kuk members bullying the Hong Kong government in the Wang Chau development in Yuen Long.

The Wang Chau site is a brownfield site the government had wanted to take back to build some 17,000 flats, but some kuk members are using it -- and profiting from it -- and refuse to hand it back, forcing the authorities to retreat and instead develop a green-belt area nearby and evict residents of three villages.

This whole fiasco has made the kuk realize they need to revamp their image and plan to hire a public relations firm to help them.

While the Basic Law protects the traditional rights of indigenous rural residents, rural leaders says it should include hillside burials, the right to build small houses and exemption from government rent.

Perhaps the strongman days of Lau Wong-fat are over?

At the same time there is no official figure on the number of indigenous residents in Hong Kong who can trace their male ancestry back to residents of the New Territories in 1898, though some rural leaders estimate it could be at least 300,000 of them.

So while the Heung Yee Kuk wants to put a positive spin on its image, who is going to believe it?

Peter Lam Yuk-wah, a public relations consultant, said rural leaders should give up the idea of a PR campaign to get people to accept their views and instead be prepared to make compromises.

"A campaign is more than forcing your views on others. There will be feedback. And how are you going to deal with that feedback is more important. Otherwise, you can make things worse," Lam said.

Perhaps members of the kuk need to realize Lau Wong-fat's strongman days are long gone and the only way to repair the PR damage is to do the right thing and return the land to the government...

DAB Desperate for Praise

DAB's Starry Lee Wai-king greets NPC chairman Zhang Dejiang in Beijing

Earlier this week members of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) paid a visit to the Chinese capital, in the Great Hall of the People to meet with senior Chinese officials.

The delegation, led by Starry Lee Wai-king, told Chinese officials that the DAB needed more encouragement and recognition for its "hard work", as Beijing urged the group to take a "leading role" in uniting fellow loyalists after the failed political reform package last month.

"Many patriots have been making lots of contributions to the city, but it seems they are not given enough recognition," a DAB source said. "Not many people [from the DAB] are appointed to the National People's Congress or the Chinese People's Consultative Conference as the seats are limited, but it would be great if some 'honorary recognition' could be given."

It's amusing for the DAB for ask for this in its pilgrimage to Beijing (its first since 2006) when members of the group botched voting on the political reform package when a number of them walked out of the Legislative Council chamber last month.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying may seek a second term

They were waiting for Heung Yee Kuk former chairman Lau Wong-fat to show up, but he was stuck in traffic. And even though many legislative councillors walked out, there were still enough inside the chamber to vote and so they did, resulting in a 28-8 against the package.

It is akin to a student asking a teacher for gold stars when the pupil's academic performance is barely a pass, despite his or her seemingly "hard work".

Nevertheless, it seems that Beijing has been outwardly stoic about the political reform package failing to pass, and instead is already focused on the future.

Zhang Dejiang, National People's Congress chairman and the state leader in charge of Hong Kong's affairs, says the DAB must now work with its allies to win a two-thirds majority in Legco in next year's election.

"I hope the DAB find out what is good and hold fast to it and make a difference," he said. "It should have a clear-cut stand on loving the country and Hong Kong... and be willing to take on heavy responsibilities."

It is also believed Zhang urged the DAB to support Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, and if they win a two-thirds majority in Legco, then they will be able to pass the political reform package.

So it seems Beijing is still keen on passing the package as is, and that the Hong Kong government never bothered to listen to its citizens on how they want to vote for their next chief executive in 2017.

The current proposal has two to three candidates vetted by a 1,200 nomination committee with its members appointed by Beijing. Then some 5 million eligible voters in Hong Kong would be able to vote on these pre-approved candidates.

However, this was not what a number of local residents wanted, which later spurred the 79-day Occupy protests in the city last fall.

This just demonstrates how Beijing is determined to have things its way, because, as we've said before, it has no understanding or appreciation of how democracy works, and it wants to make sure the results are a foregone conclusion.

Which is why Hong Kong has had three chief executives so far who have apparently obediently followed Beijing's directives that have resulted in the city's performance declining in all aspects -- these last few weeks it's been traces of lead in public housing water pipes -- thus further evidence of complacency and no interest in having Hong Kong ruled by Hong Kong.

Beijing is currently shoring up support for Leung -- despite his incompetency and lack of popularity -- and is urging the DAB to be behind him all the way, should he seek a second term.

It's a tough pill to swallow, but knowing the DAB, they will be obedient because they really want those gold stars...

All in the Interpretation

Lau Wong-fat shaking the container for a fortune stick to come out

This being the second day of Chinese New Year is when a government representative goes to Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin to draw a fortune stick for Hong Kong.

Every year since 2004 it's been Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat, after home affairs bureau chief Patrick Ho Chi-ping drew the number 83, one of the worst omens, and after that SARS hit the city that resulted in the deaths of 299 people.

Apparently when the British were in power, they "fixed" the sticks so that every year was a good fortune...

But why is Lau doing it every year? Can't they mix it up? Or does he keep drawing it until he gets a bad fortune stick?

In any event this year Lau picked the number 20 which is considered "neutral". The stick is chosen by getting a container filled with fortune sticks, 96 of them, where 35 are good, 44 are neutral and 17 are bad. The person has to shake the container at an angle until one fortune stick comes out.

Last year Lau also picked an average fortune. It was advised that the government listen to the people in the Year of the Horse to avoid misfortune and chaos. Look what happened in the end!

But this year, the fortune was interpreted that it was the people should not be greedy and be practical. When looking at it from a political point of view, fortune tellers were hinting Hong Kong people should accept the government's political reform package. In other words, elections where one person, one vote, will have two to three candidates who are vetted by Beijing.

How would you interpret the fortune that literally says this: "In the morning there's colourful make-up and coiffure in cloud-shaped coils; and jade and pearl ornaments made the brocade look silvery. Yet 'form is emptiness and emptiness is form', that was [goddess of mercy] Guanyin's reminder for the mortals."

From those poetic words we can see how it advises people not to be greedy, but why should it be related to political reform? How about it being aimed at landlords demanding sky high rents and even worse, property developers who are charging almost HK$20,000 per square foot for a less than 300 sq ft flat near Sham Shui Po?

Shouldn't they be the ones tempering their expectations?

The average Hong Kong person has already had their hopes sunk in the past year. All they are focusing on is getting a decent-paying job to pay the rent and if they're lucky a mortgage. They are hardly aiming for the Moon these days. Why take risks when you're beaten down?

Again this demonstrates Hong Kong government officials are still completely out of touch with what's going on street level -- they are sitting too high in the sky to see the gritty reality of life in the city.